Mr. Speaker, my question is for the President of the Treasury Board.
The merging of two major pulp and paper companies, Abitibi Price and Stone Consolidated, resulted in the creation of that industry's largest company in the world, with sales in excess of $4 billion. However, despite the fact that the majority of plants and workers of this new conglomerate are in Quebec, there is still no guarantee that the corporation's head office will be in Montreal.
Can the minister tell us if his government made representations to convince the new company's senior management to maintain its Canadian head office in Montreal?